


After All This Time

by LadyLibby



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alex is so sweet i cannot, Alzheimer's Disease, F/M, Fluff, Love, Marriage, Old Couples, Romance, Time Skips, im bad at tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLibby/pseuds/LadyLibby
Summary: "You should know that your grandpa Alex has something called Alzheimer's. It means he forgets sometimes."





	

**Summer 1965**

Alex Summers and Sean Cassidy were out at a diner for lunch. The young men hadn’t seen each other in a while and decided to meet and catch up over their favorite greasy food.  They got a booth next to a big window, and Sean reclined with a contented sigh. That boy could get comfortable anywhere.

“Hello and welcome to Sally’s Diner. I’m Y/N, what can I get you today?” Alex looked up at their waitress, his eyes trailing up from the skirt of her uniform to her face. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. 

“Your number would be nice, sweetheart.” Sean said, not missing a beat. Alex shot a glare at his friend, throat tightening. He had no right to be mad at Sean, he had no claim to this gorgeous stranger. All the same, he was annoyed. 

“Sorry sweet talker, I don’t give my number out until you’ve at least ordered. After that, we’ll see.” She glanced at Alex, giving him a sweet smile. His heart thumped faster. 

By some miracle, he was able to get his order out in a coherent sentence, and she left them alone. Sean clearing his throat tore Alex’s attention from the way Y/N’s hair moved as she walked. 

“So how’ve you been, man?” Sean asked with a smug smile. 

The two mutants conversed, filling the other in on what had been going on since they’d parted ways several months before. 

At some point, Y/N returned with their food, gracing Alex with another sweet smile. His heart sped up again, and he couldn’t help but smile back. Sean watched the whole exchange with a knowing smirk. 

Once Y/N was off once again to the other tables, Sean stuffed a few fries into his mouth, asking his friend, “You gonna ask her out?” 

Alex raised his eyebrows with a scoff. “I don’t know. Why do you care?” 

“Well you’re clearly smitten.” Sean reasoned. 

Alex rolled his eyes. “Smitten? Since when do you talk like my mom?”

“Since you give waitresses the lovesick puppy eyes that’s when.” Sean teased, leaning back in his seat. 

“Lovesick puppy? Man, shut up.” Alex deflected, trying to get rid of his blush. Normally, Alex had no problem sidling up to a cute girl and asking her out. This time though, something was different. Y/N was different. She was on a whole other level from the girls he’d met before. She deserved something more than just a cheesy line. 

This resolution in mind, Alex planned to come back the next day. 

****

Y/N pulled the strap of her bag up on her shoulder. With a wave to Benny the fry cook, she headed out of the diner for the day. 

“Hey Y/N.” A voice greeted. Y/N looked up to see her favorite regular. 

“Alex!” She said with a wide grin. It had been two weeks since they first met, and he had come to the diner to see her and have a piece of pie almost every day. 

His hands were hidden behind his back, black leather jacket absorbing the light of the setting sun. 

“I was just leaving, if you want that piece of pie, Mandy just started her shift.” She offered. 

The handsome blond man swallowed, seeming unusually nervous. “Actually, I came to ask you something.” He said. 

Y/N’s heart fluttered in anticipation. “Go ahead.”

He produced a bouquet of yellow roses tied with a white ribbon from behind his back. “Do you-um, would you like to go to dinner with me? Tonight?” He asked, eyes searching her face for an answer. 

Y/N broke into a wide smile, and accepted the flowers. “I’d love to.”

 

**Autumn 1974**

Alex stood at the end of a long aisle. Along each side friends and family were seated, smiling at the celebration of love that was a long time coming. 

The day Alex got his draft letter he’d dropped to his knee and proposed. They couldn’t find a date soon enough though, so he had and Y/N had waited. When he finally came home, they fixed a date. 

Now that the day had come, Alex was out of his mind with nerves. Nothing was calming him down. Sean helped adjust his tie with some sarcastic remark that Alex didn’t comprehend. 

Scott, who was sitting in the front row, playing with his dinosaur toys gave his big brother a thumbs up and toothy grin. Alex smiled back, taking a deep breath. 

He heard the band begin to play, and with his heart going a mile a minute, he looked to the end of the aisle. 

Walking towards him was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. The fabric of Y/N’s dress moved gracefully as she did, shimmering slightly in the afternoon light. Her hair was styled half up, pieces framing her face artfully. 

She had eyes only for him, and the brightest smile he’d ever seen. In her hands she held a collection of yellow roses tied together with a white ribbon. 

She passed the flowers off to her maid of honor, and took his slightly shaky hands in her own. With the grin Alex wore, his friends almost forgot his normal brooding appearance.

 

**Spring 2024**

Alexis Summers plopped down onto a lounge chair on her grandparents back porch. Her mother and grandmother were busy putting her younger brother Charlie down for a nap. Slightly amused, the 8 year old observed her grandfather. 

Alex, well into old age, ignored the little girl on his porch, heading straight for the flower garden ahead of him. He was on a mission, refusing to lose sight of his goal. 

Alexis elected not to call out to him, curious to see what he was doing. Her mother had recently explained to her why Grandpa had always seemed a little funny. 

_ “You’re a big girl now, right Alexis? You should know that your grandpa Alex has something called Alzheimer's. It means he forgets sometimes. So we have to be extra patient with him ok?”  _

Her mother’s words in mind, the little girl observed her grandpa as he snipped a few flowers off a bush and tied them together with a ribbon. Before Alexis could see what he did next, her grandmother came out onto the porch. 

“Hi sweetpea. I brought some lemonade in case you’re thirsty.” She placed the glass next Alexis’s chair. “You’re brother is asleep. Your mama joined him about two minutes later. I remember how tired she made me…” Y/N chuckled at the memory. 

“Excuse me miss?” Came a voice from behind Y/N. A soft look came over her face and she turned around. 

“Yes?” She prompted, smiling. 

“I don’t normally do this, but,” Alex began, holding out the yellow roses, “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life. Marry me?” He said. 

The genuine emotion and hope in his face made tears well up in Y/N’s face. 

“Alex, I already married you. Almost fifty years ago I became Y/N Summers.” The woman explained, taking her husband’s hand with a wistful smile. 

“Really?” He wondered in disbelief. The grin that spread across Alex Summers’s face was infectious, and his granddaughter couldn’t help but smile. 

As the old man kissed his wife sweetly before she placed to flowers in a vase with as much care as if they were made of glass, Alexis came to a realization. 

The scene before her was what loved looked like. She never, ever forgot that. 


End file.
